OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – A survey shows some bankers had a dire view of the rural economy in their 10 Western and Plains states. A report released today (Thursday) says January’s Rural Mainstreet Index plunged to 34.8 from 41.5 in December. It’s the lowest overall index figure since August 2009. Survey officials say any score below 50 on any of the survey’s indexes suggests that factor will decline.

Creighton University economist Ernie Goss oversees the monthly survey of rural bankers and says it’s the fifth straight month for a decline. He again blames lower prices for agriculture and energy commodities and downturns in manufacturing.

The farmland and ranchland price index dropped to 23.9 in January from December’s 28.8. Bankers from Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming were surveyed.

The Department of Natural Resources is warning everyone to be careful out on the ice covering Iowa’s lakes and rivers after four snowmobiles recently went into the water at the Great Lakes. Conservation officer Steve Reighard, says two sets of snowmobilers got a chilly dip in the water. “There’s a couple of gentlemen that actually rode snowmobiles into it at night, Thursday night. No injuries, they were able to get out. No damage to the sleds other than they had to dry those out also. And then again Saturday morning, two individuals went through,” Reighard says. “And Saturday morning with the cold temperatures there was a thin skim of ice over the open water. We got a little bit of snow cover so it looked like it was solid out there, and they drove out onto that thin ice and broke through. There again, they weren’t injured.”

He says conditions have been different on the lakes this years as the water was high at the start of winter when the lakes started to freeze and continued flowing. “With that current flowing through there, it’s keeping that water open or the ice extremely thin,” Reighard explains. “Plus, the ice never does freeze evenly. There’s a lot of variability out there — I’ve seen it as thick as 13 inches on West Okoboji, and also as thin as three in the last week.”

He says the bridges around the Great Lakes pinches down the flow of the water, which makes it faster and less likely to freeze. Reighard says there are similar situations across the state with the ice this winter. And he says no matter where you go on the ice, the one constant is there is no guarantee of perfectly frozen ice. “It’s not like the ice cubes in your tray in your freezer — and even if you look at those — they don’t always freeze the same either,” he says. “There’s just to many variabilities with water depth, on obstacles underneath the ice, springs, currents, all of those things come into effect.”

Some people are driving vehicles onto the ice to fish, and Reighard says that’s something he never recommends because of the uncertainty of the ice depth.

(Radio Iowa)

Four officers were elected during the Montgomery County Extension Council organizational meeting held Jan. 18th. The nine-member council annually elects officers to comply with Iowa law. Joe Jardon, of Red Oak, is the re-elected chairperson. Jardon will preside at all meetings of the extension council, have authority to call special meetings and perform duties performed and exercised by a chairperson of a board of directors of a corporation. Mike Olson, of Red Oak, was elected vice chairperson.

Darcy Dalton, of Villisca, was elected secretary; and has the responsibility of keeping the minutes of all extension council meetings and signing required papers for the council. The council elected Bill Drey, of Red Oak, to the treasurer position. The treasurer receives, deposits, has charge of all of the funds of the extension council, and pays and disburses funds. The treasurer insures an accurate record of receipts and disbursements and submits reports to the extension council.

The council is the county governing body of Iowa State University Extension and Outreach. They hire county staff, manages the county extension budget of approximately $366,000, and helps determine programming. In partnership with Iowa State University Extension and Outreach, the council provides educational opportunities that bring university resources to the needs of the county and region. Local extension programs include 4-H, after school programs, Master Gardeners, and Powerful Tools for Caregivers

The Montgomery County Extension office is located in Red Oak.

w/Kate Olson.

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Poultry producers in Iowa are on high alert as an outbreak of avian influenza is being dealt with in Indiana. At least ten turkey farms in a single Indiana county are reported infected. T-J Myers, an administrator at the U-S-D-A’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, says the outbreaks appears to be contained. “There’s been a lot of good work to increase our preparatory efforts at the federal side, the state side and the industry side,” Myers says. “Industry and poultry producers have been doing a lot to strengthen their biosecurity so we are hopeful that as we respond very quickly to this virus that we can get it contained.”

The Indiana situation is being closely monitored and Myers says the agency is not calling for vaccinations. “Our vaccination policy is to only use it if we feel that it would be an important adjunct to our stamping out policy,” he says. “At this point, we are not looking to do any sort of vaccination.” While the bird flu outbreak appears to have spread to multiple farms in Indiana, they are all in close proximity within one county and officials believe the spread has been halted.

Given that, vaccinations shouldn’t be needed. “That’s something that we would only use if we felt that it was necessary to assist us in containing a spreading virus,” Myers says, “which we are not looking at right now.” A total of 77 poultry operations in Iowa had bird flu outbreaks last spring and more than 31-million chickens and turkeys were wiped out in Iowa, which was by far the worst-hit state.

Losses in Iowa alone from the outbreak may total one-billion dollars. No new cases of bird flu have been reported in Iowa since last June and the final quarantine was lifted on December 1st.

(Radio Iowa)

Longevity will be the key to profitability when it comes to replacement heifers that entered the herd over the past few years. Identifying, managing, and breeding for females that will maintain themselves well into the future can be a daunting task.

To help producers manage achieve more longevity from replacement females, the Iowa Beef Center is partnering with the Iowa Cattlemen’s Association (ICA), ABS Global, Accelerated Genetics, Select Sires and Merial to conduct a series of seven educational workshops across the state titled, “Heifer Development 3: Breeding & Selecting for Longevity & Profit.”

This is the third installment of the heifer development series, building on our 2011 and 2014 programs on yearling and first-calf heifer best management practices, respectively. The focus of this year’s series is on current genetic and phenotypic selection tools that can be utilized to improve cow longevity and enhance lifetime productivity. A meal will be served at each site and cost is $20 when preregistered three days prior to event. Walk-in registration is $25 per person with no guarantee of meal. Dates and locations (all will be held from 5 to 9 p.m.) are as follows:

Feb. 1, Cass County Community Center, Atlantic
Feb. 2, Western Iowa Tech Community College, Cherokee
Feb. 3, Carpenter’s Hall, Chariton
Feb 9, Washington Co. Extension Office, Washington
Feb. 10, Muse Norris Conference Center at NIACC, Mason City
Feb. 11, Jones Co. Extension Office, Monticello
March 2, Hansen Ag Student Learning Center, Ames

See session information and registration details on the Iowa Beef Center website. Or contact your regional Extension beef specialist for details on a site near you. We hope to see you at one of these sessions.

Atlantic Parks and Recreation Director Roger Herring Monday evening updated the Parks & Rec Board on the status of fundraising efforts for Schildberg Recreation Area and other park improvements. With regard to a Transportation Alternatives Program (TAP) grant, Herring said progress “Is movin.” Herring said they have authorization from the Feds and State to go ahead with the design phase of the Schildberg Lake #2 trail, and he hopes to have bid letting in July. Completion is expected to occur later this fall.

Herring said there was a delay in getting the grant approved, due to red tape with regard to “coding.”

Proposed additional trail around Lake #2 at the Schildberg Rec Area. (File photo from Feb. 2015)

Part of the trail is in the City limits, but since the original request was to have it outside the City limits, the powers that be had to re-evaluate the whole process. In other news, Roger Herring said he and Assistant Parks & Rec Director Seth Staashelm have been putting together a grant request from the Cass County Community Foundation that has to be turned-in by no later than May 31st. The application will be for anywhere from $15-to $20,000, for upgrades to some City Parks.

That includes Harl-Holt Park at 17th and Olive Streets, behind the old YMCA building. Staashelm says they would like to upgrade equipment at the park, including replacement of the basketball court at the park. Instead of replacing the concrete, they could install something called a “Versacourt,” Which is a plastic tiling outdoor system. The Parks and Rec crew can assemble and secure the system themselves, which would save on costs. Another benefit is different types of recreational lines can be placed on the court, including basketball and pickelball, to name but a few. The product has a 15-year warranty.

They also hope to update or replace some playground equipment at the Harl-Holt Park, and retrofitting the swing. Roger Herring said they are also working on a Vision Iowa grant application. Currently, they are soliciting Letters of Support for the grant application. That includes revisiting previous persons or entities that have supported prior grant applications, and a Resolution of Support from the City and others.

The goal is to submit the application by April 14th. In other business, Staashelm and Herring received approval from the Parks and Rec Board to have a special Online Reservations program created so that people can check to see what City Park shelters are available, and make reservations for the use of those shelters. The computer program and services would cost around $700. It would save Herring and Staashelm countless hours in scheduling and confirming shelter house reservations.

Iowa’s corn crop and many other key commodities would be threatened by hot, dry conditions if certain weather patterns continue to develop. U-S-D-A meteorologist Brad Rippey says even though the El Nino pattern is still strong over the entire country right now, there are likely changes on the horizon.

“If you look at all of the moderate-to-strong El Ninos we’ve had over the last 75 years or so, they are almost always followed by a fairly quick transition to La Nina,” Rippey says. “It’s almost like there’s a boomerang effect.” We’re now experiencing the third “super El Nino” weather pattern since the early 1980s and if the pattern holds, a La Nina pattern could emerge soon and bring drought conditions.

“We’re pretty confident and even the two-dozen or so models that try to forecast the ocean and atmospheric states looking ahead to the summer,” he says, “we’ll be in either neutral or La Nina conditions by the latter part of 2016.” Rippey says the La Nina pattern in 1998 never reached Iowa or other Midwestern states but it had an impact on the southern tier of states, bringing very dry conditions that had a major impact on crops. Signs point to a repeat, according to Rippey.

“In 1983, we saw a very wet spring nearly coast-to-coast, but in July and August, as we quickly transitioned into La Nina, we saw a very hot, dry weather pattern develop across the Midwest,” he says. “It led to significant yield declines in crops, including corn.” It’s still too early to pinpoint exactly where the hot, dry conditions will land but he says farmers need to be aware.

(Radio Iowa)

Members of the City of Atlantic’s Parks and Recreation Department Board of Directors will meet Monday evening in the City Council’s Chambers at City Hall, beginning at 5:15.

On the agenda are updates on: the 2017 Budget proposal; the Kiddie Korral at SunnysidePark; Boat ramp project near the Schildberg Rec Area; The Bull Creek/Schuler Elementary School Trail; A Transportation Alternatives Program grant for Lake #2 at the Schildberg Rec Area; a Cass County Community Foundation grant request; Vision Iowa grant; and an update on On-line Shelter Reservations.

Old business will cover an update on the Nishna Valley Connector Trail. And, in his report to the Board, Parks and Rec Director Roger Herring is expected to talk about the parking lot installation at the Dog Park in the Schildberg Rec Area, as well as remind the public Sunnyside Park remains open to sledding, disc golf and walking. The gates to the park remain closed to vehicle traffic, however.

The Shelby County Conservation Board has announced persons interested in reserving cabins at the Nishna Bend Recreation Area or Manteno Park, can do so online. Two cabins are available at Nishna Bend, and one is available at Manteno Park.

You can reserve your cabin online at mycountyparks.com. On the website, there’s an interactive calendar where you can see what dates are available up to 24 months in advance. You can then reserve any open dates and pay for the cabin securely, using a credit card.

Signs will be erected on the camping cabins reminding park users of the reservation system.